Friday 29 January 2021

Pantone colours for 2021

Pantone has named two colours as its colour of the year for 2021 - Ultimate Gray and Illuminating, an "optimistic" hue of yellow. Pantone believes that the pairing of shades will help people "fortify themselves with energy, clarity and hope" in a world that's set to face increasing uncertainty - sounds good to me!
...and it got me thinking that we had two pretty similar shades in out Colorset range - Lemon and Ash:
...and they are also, both 100% recycled!

Our Colorset range has 36 shades, which you can read about HERE
If you would like to see the range, just email me for a swatch - justin@fennerpaper.co.uk

Monday 25 January 2021

Brigade Court Floorplans

Brigade Court is a new residential community in the heart of Borough, London SE1. Set in the former home of the London Fire Brigade, it connects past, present and future through a mix of Grade II listed buildings and the finest contemporary architecture, set around a central courtyard for a traditionally different take on modern living.
The branding and identity for Brigade Court, including online development is by Jack Renwick Studio and this is the Floorplans literature...
Size of the brochure is 388x278mm, portrait and is singer sewn. It has a 4pp cover with a linen embossing from that other well known "Hull based paper merchant"! The 68pp text is printed on Marazion Ultra 115gsm.
Click on images to enlarge
For readers not familiar with Marazion Ultra, it's a fully coated paper but it really does have a dead flat MATT surface. There are many papers on the market which profess to be matt (and some which incorporate the word matt in the name, but aren't!) ...but this really is - and if you don't believe me, just ask for a sample!
Reproduction of solid colour is also excellent as you can see from the solid blue above - dead flat and an excellent printed solid - what a result!
Centre spread (above) and detail below showing the singer sewing with the yellow thread which works with the gold hot foil blocking on the outside cover, which in turn is reminiscent of the heritage of the brass helmets that firemen used to wear when this Fire Station was built for the London Fire Brigade.
The brochure is printed CMYK plus the special blue and metallic gold used for headings and in the floorplans below...
Click on images to enlarge
Reproduction of the images is superb, as you can see from the detail image below... 
Marazion Ultra has a good bulk and opacity, so using the 115gsm weight works well, light enough to allow the 68pp text to be singer sewn and flows beautifully in the hand.
Brand identity and design is by Jack Renwick Studio. Their brand idea ‘Traditionally Different’ celebrates the distinctive contrasts of the development. Archival photographs of the firefighters and fire station sit with images of the apartments and local area, creating a series of collages that convey the site’s distinctive marriage of old and new. This project won gold in the Print Design category of  the Drum Awards, which you can read about HERE
Jack Renwick Studio celebrated their 9th birthday last week and with work like this in their portfolio, they have much to celebrate!

The excellent print, repro and finishing is by Gavin Martin Colournet, based in Leyton with Phil Le Monde handling the project.

Posted by Justin Hobson 25.01.2021

Thursday 21 January 2021

Turning Waste into Worth

Billy Tannery started with a discovery. Founders Jack and Rory found out that due to decades of decline in the British leather industry, many thousands of goatskins leftover from the food industry were being thrown away each year. So in 2016, building on centuries of local leather knowledge, they transformed a farm building in the Midlands into a small-batch tannery - the first to be built in the UK for well over 50 years.
This simple piece of promotional literature tells the story - Turning Waste into Worth. The finished size is A6 (148x105mm) but is simply a folded piece of A4 folding down to A6 - one of the simplest and most cost effective formats available, yet also one of the most effective. 
Click on images to enlarge
Below image shows the leaflet folded out to the A4 size spread...
...and what better paper to print this publication on than a paper made using 25% upcycled leather! Remake is the range produced by Favini and Remake is leather ‘upcycling’ on an industrial scale and represents the latest frontier in upcycling in the paper sector. This unique and innovative paper replaces 25% of wood tree pulp with leather residues. You can read more about Remake here.
Click on image to enlarge
In the detail image above you can see the visible leather fibres in the sheet. Below is the proud statement about the paper's provenance.
The publication is printed on Remake, Sand 120gsm It is printed and finished by Typecast Colour, based in Paddock Wood, Kent and was printed on their Xerox digital press.

Monday 18 January 2021

Today is Blue Monday!

According to the media, today is supposedly the most depressing and gloomiest day of the year. As people come down from holiday-highs, start to receive their credit card bills, and start to experience ever colder weather ...and the fact that it's a Monday, it's easy to see why you can get down in the dumps. 

 Not me! ...I'm using it as a brilliant excuse to tell you that here at Fenner Paper, many of our paper ranges include shades of blue, which when you add them up total 29 different shades of blue!!!
Yes, it's a derisory ploy, but then apparently Blue Monday was itself a cynical invention back in the early 2000's developed as a way of selling summer holidays in January!

29 different blues is as many as some of those other bigger companies (you know who I mean!) can offer... So if you feel like a blue today, get in contact. 
Posted by Justin Hobson 18.01.2021

Thursday 14 January 2021

2021 Calendar using Creative Print

The United Nations declared 2021 as the International Year for the Elimination of Child Labour. This UN International Year will provide an opportunity to address the challenges posed by COVID-19 and to accelerate progress towards the goal to end child labour in all its forms by 2025. It will also propel momentum towards the Global Conference on Child Labour that will take place in South Africa in 2022.
Click on images to enlarge
This calendar was conceived by the creative heads of advertising agency LMF based in Thüringen. They organised a collaboration with Quedlinburg DRUCK GmbH (printer) Koehler Greiz GmbH & Co KG (Paper) and Druckerei Erdenberger (UV print/finishing) to produce a calendar to highlight this special year.
Click on images to enlarge
Size of the calendar is 810x 280mm is wiro-bound at the head and has 14 leaves, one for each month plus an introduction page and cover.
Click on images to enlarge
The calendar is printed on our Creative Print, Diamond 210gsm, which is a 100% Recycled paper which we launched on World Environment Day in 2019. The range also is accredited with the "Blue Angel" environmental mark - which is fact the oldest environmental ecolabel, first awarded in 1978. 
Click on images to enlarge
The print result is absolutely superb on this 100% recycled paper - sadly what it isn't possible to show here is the range of UV print finishes, with glitter, high build, textured and matt finish - because it isn't easy to photograph - particularly not with my limited photography skills!
Click on images to enlarge
I have been given a number of these individual calendars for the readers of this blog. They are available on a first come first serve basis, so if you would like a copy, please email me justin@fennerpaper.co.uk ...but you'll have to hurry!

https://www.l-m-f.de/home.html#!home
Posted by Justin Hobson 14.01.2021

Monday 11 January 2021

Private Somm

Private Somm was set up by Nicolas and Sophie to connect wine drinkers to sommeliers. They offer the knowledge, experience and expertise of their friends and colleagues in the industry to recommend some wonderful, hand-made, well-crafted wines, all despatched by a seamless delivery service.
Click on images to enlarge
These A6, Landscape promotional cards are printed on Crush Grape 350gsm, which is manufactured using 15% residues from the processing of grapes, combined with 40% post consumer waste and FSC virgin fibres. You can read more about Crush HERE.
The cards have been digitally printed by Healeys printers. For those that are unfamiliar with Crush, you can see the the detail image below, where you can see the specs and imperfections which are the characteristic of using this natural supplement...
Click on images to enlarge
Healeys are based in Ipswich and are one of a handful of printers who are registered as a 'Carbon Balanced Printer' by the World Land Trust and can offer a totally carbon balanced printing service including the paper and all aspects of production and delivery. 

Thursday 7 January 2021

Zeta - the paper story

Some exciting news for 2021...

The ZETA range of business papers has been around for decades and should need no introduction. For many years it has been the gold standard for stationery papers in Europe, with it's excellent availability in all European countries and Fenner Paper took became the UK stockist in 2015 after the demise of Paperlinx. For 2021, the range has now been refreshed with the addition of a new Laid finish and new shades, which is now presented in a new swatch designed by Wolfgang Forsch, who has handled the re-brand.

The new swatch is DIN A4 size, portrait format and is a 6pp gatefold. The cover is printed on Zeta Linen, Brilliant 350gsm and is printed in black plus a fluorescent orange.
The swatch shows the new stock range together with all the weights, surfaces and colours...
These fine papers are manufactured at the Reflex Paper mill in the town of Düren in Germany, which was founded in 1857 and the mill also produces transparent papers, label papers and artists papers. All ZETA products are made from Chlorine Free pulp (ECF) and carry the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) certification.

If you would like one of the new swatches, please email me: justin@fennerpaper.co.uk

Posted by Justin Hobson on 07.01.2021

Monday 4 January 2021

Jobs from the past - Number 134

Regular followers of this blog will know that my first post of every month is a "job from the past" so that I can show some of the really good work from years gone by and this publication is from only a few years ago in 2017.

The Print Shop - 40 Years of Calverts
Calverts is a workers' cooperative with a history of creating and producing eye-catching print and design. To celebrate Calverts 40th year, they invited Alice Pattullo and publishers Design For Today to work with them on a creative print animation, following the journey of an idea as it transforms into a finished product. It's a whirlwind tour through illustration, art direction, design, file set up and reprographics, with a sprinkling of handy tips along the way.
The size of the publication is 148x95mm, portrait with a 6mm spine.
The below image shows the inside spread with hot foil blocking on the right hand page...
This publication is a long concertina - it is quite simply one long sheet which concertina folds into a pre-creased spine, which forms a cover.
The below image shows a 'birdseye' view which demonstrates how it folds into the spine. Over the last 30 years, I have always referred to this format as a long concertina, however in recent years people have started using the term Leporello to describe this type of folding - personally I think this is just confusing! 
The 26pp book is actually made from two sheets of paper, carefully joined, with a glued tab, which you can just make out in the image below.
The below image shows both sides stretched out fully.
Click on images to enlarge
The publication is printed Offset Litho on our Shiro Echo, White 250gsm, which is 100% Recycled and FSC accredited. The weight of the material is crucial for this format - too heavy and it will be too springy, too light and it won't take the creases and hold together well enough, 250gsm is just perfect. Here are some of the spreads...
Click on images to enlarge
Below is the spread about Riso printing, where there is a 'tipped in' sheet, which is Riso printed on the right hand page.265x168
The page is 265x168mm and is folded once to reveal the below...
...and then folding up.
...there's even information about paper sizes.
It's a really beautifully conceived and executed publication with superb illustrations by Alice Pattullo and excellent writing.

And the great news is that if you would like to have your own copy, you can buy still buy them online HERE.

Posted by Justin Hobson 04.01.2021